Chapter 30 Kidnapping

• Bastien’s POV
• I barely recognize my mother. Her once glowing skin is pallid and gray, her usually bright eyes are dull and glassy, and even her hair seems to be losing its color. She’s barely left her room since my father died, staying in bed all day and hugging his pillow as she cries.
• As distant as Selene has been lately, she seems equally concerned about my mother’s health, now hovering beside me outside the master bedroom and peeking worriedly through the gap in the door.